Material cart

ABSTRACT

A material handling car that automatically aligns elongate material pieces that are dropped thereon. The cart has a substantially horizontal wheel-supported bed having end members connecting a pair of side members. Guide rails, that automatically align the material pieces dropped on the cart, are attached to the end members inwardly of the side members and extend upwardly and outwardly from their points of attachment.

United States Patent Linzmeier 14 1 June 13, 1972 MATERIAL CART 3,021.011 2/1962 Visnes ki ..280/79.1 x [72] Inventor: Leonard J. Linzmeier, 244Bird Street, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Sun Prairie, Wis. 53590668,966 7/1929 France ..280/79.1 [22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 62,436 Primary Examiner-Benjamin Hersh Assistant Examiner-WinstonH. Douglas Attorney-Joseph G. Werner, Theodore J. Long, John M. [52]U.S. Cl ..280/47.34, 211/49,214/10.5, Y

280/4735, 280/793 Wmter and James A. Kemmeter [51] Int. Cl .,B62b 3/1058 Field of Search ..280/79.3, 79.1, 47.19, 47.35, [57] ABSTRACT280/4734; 296/3; 2 14/ 10.5; 293/38, 41; 21 50 A material handling carthat automatically aligns elongate material pieces that are droppedthereon. The cart has a sub- References and stantially horizontalwheel-supported bed having end mem- UNITED STATES PATENTS bersconnecting a pair of side members. Guide rails, that automat1cally alignthe material pieces dropped on the cart, are atl,677,476 7/1928 Hagadone..296/3 tached to the end members inwardly of the side members and2,247,519 Pace extend upwardly and outwardly from their points of at.2,764,419 9/1956 Enders ....280/79.l X tachmem 2,632,567 3/1953Richtmyer ..2l4/10.5 X 3,13 7,250 6/1964 1 Claim, 2 Drawing FiguresHutchinson ..280/47.34 X

P'ATENTEDJUH 1 3 I972 INVENTOR- LEONARD 151212 EIER aaw 4.2x

- ATTORNEYS MATERIAL CART BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of theInvention.

This invention relates to an improved material handling cart, and morespecifically to a cart that automatically aligns elongate materialpieces that are dropped thereon.

2. Description of the Prior Art.

Material handling carts of various designs have been invented in thepast. However, none of these carts have any provision for automaticallyaligning material pieces as they are dropped thereon. If the materialpieces are manually piled or loaded onto the cart, the men doing theloading can align the pieces and an automatic aligning feature isunnecessary. However, in todays mechanized industries, it is oftendesirable that steps such as the manual loading of material onto ahandling car be eliminated. However, when elongate material pieces aremechanically dropped onto a cart from a machine or component cutter, itis often necessary that pieces be manually aligned in their elongatedirection so that the pieces do not become crossed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally, my invention comprises a cart forautomatically aligning elongate material pieces that are droppedthereon. The material pieces self pile themselves and substantiallyalign themselves in longitudinal direction.

These objects are accomplished by my cart which has guide rails that theelongate material pieces fall onto when dropped from a component cutteror other machine. The guide rails are angled so that, as each piece isdropped onto the cart, the guide rails automatically longitudinallyalign the pieces and cause them to tumble or roll along theirlongitudinal axes so that the pieces will self pile to a continuoussubstantially level heighth across the width of the cart.

Other objects, features and advantages to my invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showingthe preferred embodiment of my invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the preferred embodiment of myinvention with elongate material pieces that have self alignedthemselves after dropping onto the cart from a component cutteralongside the cart.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularlyto the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout theseveral views, my cart is generally shown as 11. Cart 11 generallycomprises a substantially horizontal bed 12 having a pair of end members13 and 14 connecting a pair of substantially parallel side members 15and 16. Intermediate and substantially parallel to end members 13 and 14are additional bed forming members, shown as 17, that also connect toside members 15 and 16.

Side rails 18 and 19 are attached to and extend upward from side members15 and 16 respectively. Side rail 19 is lower in heighth than side rail18 so that it is adapted to fit against the side of or under a componentcutter, such as is shown by 20,

so that elongate material pieces, such as are shown by 21, can bedropped from the cutter onto the cart. This lower rail also facilitatesthe removing of the elongate material over the side rail as it does nothave to be lifted very high to unload the material over the side. Siderail 18 is higher than side rail 19 to facilitate general maneuvering ofthe cart, and is adapted with a handrail 22.

Bed 12 is supported by two pairs of swivel wheels, 23 and 24. ln thepreferred embodiment, one pair of wheels is mounted further. apart thanthe second pair of wheels. As shown in FIG. 1, the pair of wheels 23 aremounted under side member 15 one each at the Points of connection ofside member 15 to end members 3 and 14. The other pair of wheels 24 aremounted under side member 16 inwardly of the points of connection ofsaid member 16 to end members 13 and 14. In the preferred embodiment,the pair of wheels with the greater distance between them is mountedunder the side member to which the higher side rail is attached, asshown by pair of wheels 23. The other pair of wheels 24, which arecloser together than pair of wheels 23, facilitate steering the can.

Guide rails, shown as 25, are attached'at their lower ends 26 to the endmembers 13 and I4, inwardly of side members 15 and 16. The guide railsextend'upward and outward from their points of attachment to said endmembers and are attached at their upper ends 27 to side rails 18 and 19,thereby forming substantially rigid, angled guide rails. When elongatematerial pieces, such as the lumber shown generally by 21, are droppedonto my cart from a component cutter, such as a saw, as shown by 20,they will first strike guide rails 25. The guide rails will catch andretain the elongate materialpieces, and cause them to tumble or rollsubstantially about their longitudinal axes so that the elongatematerial pieces will self-pile and automatically align themselveslongitudinally as shown in FIG. 2. I

I claim:

1. A cart for automatically aligning elongate material pieces droppedthereon, comprising:

a. a substantially horizontal rectangular shaped wheel-supported bedhaving a pair of end members connecting a pair of substantially parallelside members,

b. a first side rail mounted on and extending vertically upward from oneof said side members and having a horizontal top member,

c. a second side rail mounted on and extending vertically upward fromthe other of said side members, said second side rail having a generallyhorizontally extending handrail disposed substantially higher than thehorizontal top member of said first side rail, a first pair of inclinedguide rails having their lower ends fixedly mounted to said end membersinwardly of said one side member and extending upwardly and outwardly tofixed attachment at their upper ends to said horizontal top member, ande. a second pair of inclined guide rails having their lower ends fixedlymounted to said end members inwardly of said other side member andspaced from said first guide rails and extending upwardly and outwardlyto fixed attachment at their upper ends to said second side railsubstantially below said handrail.

i i l

1. A cart for automatically aligning elongate material pieces droppedthereon, comprising: a. a substantially horizontal rectangular shapedwheel-supported bed having a pair of end members connecting a pair ofsubstantially parallel side members, b. a first side rail mounted on andextending vertically upward from one of said side members and having ahorizontal top member, c. a second side rail mounted on and extendingvertically upward from the other of said side members, said second siderail having a generally horizontally extending handrail disposedsubstantially higher than the horizontal top member of said first siderail, d. a first pair of inclined guide rails having their lower endsfixedly mounted to said end members inwardly of said one side member andextending upwardly and outwardly to fixed attachment at their upper endsto said horizontal top member, and e. a second pair of inclined guiderails having their lower ends fixedly mounted to said end membersinwardly of said other side member and spaced from said first guiderails and extending upwardly and outwardly to fixed attachment at theirupper ends to said second side rail substantially below said handrail.